How confident is Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) that President Barack Obama would sign Cut, Cap and Balance legislation if it makes its way to his desk? So confident that he would wager a Porterhouse steak.

He issued the high stakes wager in a press conference today, making the point that America has a major spending problem, the President needs to sign a bill that solves it, and the Cut, Cap and Balance bill which passed the House on Tuesday is the only viable option on the table. In other words, Obama would have no other choice:

So the point is I’m willing to go out across this country, even if the polls are 70 percent against what we’re doing — the fact is you can’t solve our problem unless you do what “Cut, Cap, and Balance” wants to do. So, it doesn’t matter what the polls are. We’ve got to fix our country, and this is the only viable plan right now that will do that, and I will bet you a Porterhouse steak if it lands on his desk, he will sign this puppy.

Coburn’s assertion comes as Washington continues its months-long struggle to reach agreement on how to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling while cutting spending. This morning, Heritage Foundation President Edwin Feulner described the division that has emerged as Washington stands at its budgetary impasse. In short, on the one hand there is a solution, and the other there is rhetoric:

On one side are those who have come to realize it would be madness to let the political class borrow more without imposing a serious check on government spending. They have produced budgets and now an actual legislative plan to get things under control.

On the other, you find those who consider more spending, taxing, and borrowing a royal prerogative. They have produced nothing but rhetoric and empty promises and have pushed this debate to the brink.

And that is Coburn’s point. President Obama ultimately will be unable to escape the cold, hard fact that the debt ceiling saga must come to a conclusion. If he wants it to end favorably–if he wants the problem to be solved–and if the Cut, Cap and Balance legislation is the only way out, he will have to sign it.

You can bet your Porterhouse on it.

The Daily Signal depends on the support of readers like you. Donate now

Join The Discussion

Can't wait until Saturday to see what the Dems in the senate do. I'll bet the Dems in the senate can't pass any bill even one that they make up. O that's right they didn't pass a budget the last two years.http://www.houseforsaleweb.com/housenews.htm#inte…

Aside from fully brainwashed people that do not understand economics no one thinks that Cut Cap Balance will ever pass, nor is it even a realistic formula whatsoever. But the GOP has turned into a “party” of “actions” on paper and big talk catchphrases that cater to ideological zealots and have nothing to do with reality. When your Lead presidential candidate, contrary to every scrap of evidence to the contrary, believes that nothing bad would happen if the debt ceiling is not lifted, you have now become a less than credible party of symbolism and tokenism replacing substance. We should all than the Tea Party for turning the GOP into a “party” that is not a real choice anymore, more like an inbred family of radicalized concepts for the upper class.

Don’t have time to read the Washington Post or New York Times? Then get The Morning Bell, an early morning edition of the day’s most important political news, conservative commentary and original reporting from a team committed to following the truth no matter where it leads.

Email address

Ever feel like the only difference between the New York Times and Washington Post is the name? We do. Try the Morning Bell and get the day’s most important news and commentary from a team committed to the truth in formats that respect your time…and your intelligence.